KZN local government seeks climate change solutions

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government on Thursday will wrap up its first provincial climate change and sustainable development summit, Northglen News reports.

The summit, attended by 300 delegates from different sectors, was aimed at finding a lasting solution to the extreme climate change-related weather conditions that have wreaked havoc in the province.

The two-day summit began on Wednesday and was attended by members of the Provincial Executive Council, senior leaders and officials from all spheres of government, academics and the civil society where delegates crafted a clear programme to respond to the ever-growing threat of inclement weather conditions caused by climate change.

The summit was led by KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala and the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

It is being held just a few months after calamitous climate change-related floods claimed 70 lives and left a trail of destruction to the infrastructure including houses, roads, power networks, schools and health facilities quantified to the figure of R1.1 billion.

“As a responsible government, we strongly feel that we have to strengthen our approach to dealing with climate change. It has been structured in a manner that it does not become a talk shop. We want the summit to produce a concrete programme that will see us as a province responding appropriately to issues of climate change,” said Zikalala ahead of the summit.